Authors : Anmay Motghare, Kalyani Malpani and Vandana Mooss
Page Nos : 42-52
Description :
Acrylates are common monomers in polymer chemistry because they can quickly polymerise and have properties that can be changed. Acrylates are the esters, salts and conjugate bases of acrylic acid with its derivatives [1]. Acrylates and methacrylates are esters that come from acrylic and methacrylic acid, respectively. Their molecular structure has a vinyl (-C=C-) group, which makes polymerisation happen quickly through free radical mechanisms. This study examined the hydrophobic properties of two distinct long-chain alkyl methacrylates: decyl methacrylate and octyl methacrylate. This study synthesises and optimises octyl methacrylate (OMA) and decyl methacrylate (DMA), two long-chain alkyl methacrylates, through Fischer esterification of the respective alcohols with methacrylic acid in a nitrogen atmosphere. We changed the ratios of the reactants, the concentration of the catalyst, and the reaction time to get a better yield and purity. We used Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC), and Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹H-NMR) to figure out what the monomers we made were. OMA was somewhat unstable and had proton irregularities, but DMA was stable and had good structural integrity, as shown by the characteristic acrylate and alkyl chain peaks. DMA was added to epoxy resin matrices to make them less likely to absorb water. We tested the coatings by looking at the water contact angle (WCA). The results showed a big change, going from about 67° for plain epoxy to 88° for DMA-modified coatings. These findings indicate that DMA effectively reduces water repellency on surfaces, implying its potential as an environmentally friendly, high-performance additive for protective coatings in moisture-prone areas.
